Red Rain
by Vati Kazimir
Summary: Summary: It’s been a month since Kuro attacked Syrup Village. Kaya reflects on the thoughts she once held and still holds for her butler. Answer to the challenge made for a Kuro x Kaya fic. Warning: Angst and character death ensue!
1. Default Chapter

Red Rain

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece… but someday I'll get the copyrights off E-Bay! Then again, maybe not! LOL!

Summary: It's been a month since Kuro attacked Syrup Village. Kaya reflects on the thoughts she once held and still holds for her butler. Answer to the challenge made for a Kuro x Kaya fic. Angst and character death ensue!

Kaya looked out her window as the rain drizzled down the glass. Black clouds obscured the sun from view, making the young girl sigh with displeasure. She was alone again. Merry had gone out shopping in the neighboring village, leaving her to herself.

Falling back onto her pillow, she heaved a heavy sigh and fell back onto old memories, letting them resurface and sweep her away, washing over her like the tide.

It had been one month and three years ago that her father, bless his soul, had hired a young man stranded on their island.

He was tall, with tanned skin and messy jet-black hair. At the time, he was probably only in his early thirties. He'd donned a pair of mangled glasses, as if trying to hide his deep brown eyes.

Those eyes; it was those eyes she'd fallen in love with so many years ago. How she'd wanted those eyes to be hers, to have them hold only her image in their pools light. And for so many years they did.

Klahadore was always by her side. He tended to her every need. On weekends, he'd take her into the town where she'd shop to her hearts content. Then they'd go buy shaved ice and laugh as they talked over the day.

But that was child's play compared to her heart's real desire. She wanted him to take her more than anything in the world. She wanted him to take her and no one else. She wanted to feel their bodies collide, to feel the force of his muscles as they made love, to feel his tongue wrap around hers.

At night, she dreamt that he slept with her, until she felt so warm and content, that when she woke, it felt as though it were real. Then he would walk in with his bright smile and present her with her morning tea, proving that it had been a dream.

After her parents' death, she clung even more to him. It was he that stayed by her bedside, he that administered her medication, he that brought her dinner, and he that stroked her forehead until she dozed off. Only he would do.

All of that was gone now. But looking back, she realized something. She still loved him. Even though he'd almost had her killed, she still wanted him to hold her, to make love to her, and now her dreams were shattered, scattered in the breeze like the leaves in the fall.

She stared out the window as the lightning streaked across the sky in an arch.

"Why, Klahadore?" she whispered.

Carefully, she picked up the knife that lay by her bedside. Turning it over in her hands, she stared at the cold metal. It was smooth and cold, just like him.

Slowly, she pulled it across her wrist then let her arms fall back onto the bed. The searing pain blinded her as tears of pent up agony streamed down her face. She felt the pull of her strength draining away, drop by drop.

As she closed her eyes, she smiled as the image of her former butler played across her mind.

"Perhaps, we'll meet in heaven," she said, quietly.

The sound of rain rang in her ears as the thunder roared across the sky. Slowly, the image of the mistress and her servant vanished, replaced by cold, lonely black.

Finis.

A/N: I hope you enjoy this. I never step down from a challenge and I've had it in the back of my head for a while. Flames are all right, I know it's an unusual pair, but they will be used to create strawberry muffins. Please R&R! 


	2. Prologue

Prologue

When Merry returned from the village, it was quite late in the evening. Expecting Kaya to have gone to bed already, he put the packages in their proper places and headed to bed himself.

The next morning, he woke with his usual smile and busied himself preparing his mistress' breakfast.

Tapping lightly on her bedroom door, he called out to her.

"Miss Kaya, I've brought your breakfast. May I come in?"

There was no reply. Instead, a steady dead silence that hung thick in the air. Merry immediately knew something was awry. Kaya always replied, and she wasn't a heavy sleeper, so his knock should have woken her up.

Again he knocked, this time a little louder, and called to her once again.

"Miss Kaya, it's Merry. I have your breakfast. May I come in?"

There was still no reply. Merry's stomach knotted and a wave of nausea swept over him. He hated going against Kaya's wishes and intruding on her, but it was his duty to protect her at all costs.

He opened her doors, stepping back as the smell of death hung, ever present, in the room. What met his eyes made his blood run cold.

There lay Kaya, covered with blood. Above her on the wall, written in crimson red for the world to see was a cryptic message.

"I'm still yours, Klahadore," was all it said.

Merry reeled and dropped to his knees. He'd lost the lovely daughter of his former employers to a mad man. A man bent on greed and destruction.

Doubling over, he tried as hard as he could not to vomit on the site. Instead, still clutching his stomach, he made his way over to her side.

Looking down, he saw her peaceful smile. Perhaps she had been happy, dying this way. He knew how she felt about Klahadore to a certain extent, but this was madness. She'd loved him?

Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at the gore. Deep down, he'd thought of the girl as his own daughter. How could he have not foreseen her suicide?

"I should have been here," he choked.

Kneeling down on the side of the bed, he lay his head at her side, letting loose his stream of tears. His body shook with his sobs, mind reeling and sinking into past memories.

"Dear God, what have I done!" he cried.

His body became heavy, and for all the day, long he lay at her side. Finally, still distraught and filled with fatigue and hunger, he rose and began to trod back into the kitchen when he saw something he'd neglected to notice before.

Sitting neatly on her writing desk was a letter on flowered stationary. Next to it, a blood red rose.

Picking them up, Merry cleared his eyes and slowly read the letter's contents.

_Merry,_

_I'm sorry. Please don't blame yourself for my death. I love Klahadore, and there's nothing anyone can do. I know you tried your best to make things work out, and I appreciate all that you've done, but this is the only way to end the pain. You made me happy never doubt that. Thank you for everything._

_Love,_

_Kaya_

The butlers pushed back the tears that had resurfaced and looked from the letter to the corpse.

Stroking her golden tresses for the last time, he took the letter and rose and departed for his quarters to wash up before leaving for the coroner.

Ever so gently, he placed them on his mantle, below a portrait of himself holding a young Kaya.

"Miss Kaya, may you rest at ease," he murmured, gazing at the painting that had been made at such a happier time.

Finis, (again).

A/N: I had to do a Prologue with Merry's reaction. It just begged to be written. Anyway, hope you like it. I'm a dark writer, so character death is right up my alley, even though I don't necessarily like killing Kaya off. Please don't take this fic the wrong way; I love the Kaya x Usopp pairings! I just thought it would be a little romantic, kind of like Romeo and Juliet, you know. R&R!


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